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Meet the team: primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD)

Consultants

Dr Jane Lucas

Prof Lucas set up the national PCD centre at Southampton General Hospital in 2006. As well as working in the PCD Centre at UHS, Prof Lucas chairs the PCD European taskforce that has published the first evidence guidelines for diagnosing PCD. She is a leader in an EU funded study to improve management of PCD, BEST-CILIA.

Prof Lucas chairs BEAT-PCD (COST Action BM1407), a global network coordinating research from basic science to clinical care, with the ultimate goal to develop treatments that lead to improvements in the long-term outcome of patients with PCD. Prof Lucas has published over 100 scientific manuscripts, many focusing on PCD - you can read a list of her publications here.

Dr Woolf Walker

Dr Walker undertook his paediatric respiratory training in Southampton and was a clinical research fellow in PCD for several years. He was then appointed to lead the children’s PCD management service in 2013. He was awarded his PhD in 2015 and was made an honorary clinical senior lecturer by the University of Southampton in 2016.

He is also division C lead for research and development at UHS and the specialty group lead for the children’s clinical research network in Wessex. He has published a significant number of papers both on PCD and paediatric respiratory disease in general.

Specialist support staff

Amanda Harris, PCD and children's respiratory nurse specialist

Amanda began her career at the Trust on the busy medical and surgical day ward. In 2009, she started a joint role as a PCD nurse specialist and cystic fibrosis senior research nurse. In this role, Amanda was responsible for coordinating a multi-site, non-commercial drug trial. Since the commissioning of the PCD management service in 2012, she has worked as a PCD and children’s respiratory nurse specialist.

Amanda is a member of numerous PCD research groups and advisory boards, including the European Respiratory Society, the PCD Medical Board and the National Paediatric Respiratory and Allergy Nursing Group. She recently completed an internship run by Health Education England and the National Institute of Health Research.

Amanda Friend, children's respiratory nurse specialist

Amanda qualified with a diploma in children’s nursing in 1997 from Portsmouth University. That year, she commenced her nursing career at University Hospital Southampton on the paediatric medical unit, where she looked after a variety of patients including those with respiratory conditions. Amanda received her nursing degree during this time.

After some time spent working in children’s nephrology and urology, Amanda joined the paediatric respiratory team as a nurse specialist in 2014. She cares for patients with PCD, cystic fibrosis and asthma.

Victoria Keenan, physiotherapist

Victoria qualified as a physiotherapist at Cardiff University in 2006. She began her physiotherapy career here at UHS, and moved to Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2009 to specialise in paediatrics. In 2015, Victoria moved back to UHS to join the PCD team as a specialist children’s respiratory physiotherapist.

Victoria works as part of both the PCD and cystic fibrosis teams, and has been an independent and supplementary non-medical prescriber since 2016. She has an interest in both airway clearance techniques and exercise.

Hannah Wilkins, physiotherapist

Hannah qualified as a physiotherapist at Liverpool University in 1997. She went on to specialise in respiratory physiotherapy, mainly working with people with cystic fibrosis at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and at Barts Health NHS Trust. Hannah moved to Hampshire in 2016 and joined the paediatric PCD team at University Hospital Southampton as a PCD physiotherapist. She is really enjoying being part of this rapidly developing service.

Bruna Rubbo, senior research assistant for PCD

Laura Behan, postdoctoral researcher

Lynn Reeves, administrator

Sam Packham, PCD service administrator

PCD diagnostic laboratory

Our PCD diagnostic laboratory has state-of-the-art equipment and is run by PCD experts in the fields of cell biology, cell culture and electron microscopy.